The Best and Worst Thing In Each Soulsborne Game

 

Been wanting to do a list like this for a while. What we have here are seven of the best games of all time (plus a remake, a DLC, and a spinoff). Having played all of them now, I might be able to zero in on the best and worst aspects of each game with some degree of accuracy. Let's go.

Demon Souls (PS3)

Best: The stage select format. You never really get stuck for long since you can always switch to a different "level" if you're having trouble with one. Bouncing between the five worlds and progressing each one at my own pace made for a pretty fun time. Can also try different routes. Like I always go to 4-1 first to get the Crescent Falchion right away since I'm usually playing as a Royal, then pump Intelligence and own everything.

Worst: Having to do that routine with jumping off the cliff in Nexus every time you beat a world, in order to keep the world difficulties from going up. That dynamic difficulty-adjustment is such a weird, arcane game mechanic that only serves to mess up your playthrough the first time through, and add tedium to subsequent playthroughs once you know what you're doing and have to remember to go die in Nexus every time you beat a boss.

Note: Some would say the HP halving in soul form is the worst thing about the game, but I just treated that as normal HP and human form as bonus HP. The Cling Ring negates half of it too, though having one accessory slot taken up for the whole game is a bit suboptimal.

Dark Souls

Best: The way the entire game is an interconnected world that flows seamlessly from area to area, with numerous shortcuts and side-routes between the various zones. It's similar to Super Metroid, and in the early-mid 2010's it was probably the best world design I'd seen SINCE Super Metroid. The world being fully-connected really sets it apart from most other games.

Worst: How unfinished the second half of the game is. It's no exaggeration to say that a lot of the areas in this game are missing a ton of polish and balancing, and the game suffers for it. All these ports and remasters of the game and they've never souped-up the second half?

Dark Souls 2

Best: The setting, mood, vibe, whatever you want to call it. This game has incredible atmosphere and I'm not sure there's any other game quite like it. Each area/biome has its own look and feel, and a lot of them are incredibly unique. No other game has a Brightstone Cove Tseldora or a Shaded Woods. This game pulled me in so well that I feel like I actually went to those places.

Worst: The enemy placement is surprisingly horrible in this game, making some of the areas very tedious to finish. The main problem is the volume of enemies and the way they frequently gang up on the player, which doesn't work well with the Souls battle system. The enemy density really messes up some otherwise-great zones in this game, but we've got one saving grace here: It's the only game on this list where enemies will stop spawning after being slain around ten times. With one exception: Frigid Outskirts. A contender for the worst area in any game on this list, and the worst boss runback in all of Soulsborne. So of course it's the one place where they disabled the enemy-despawning mechanic. It's also a completely optional hidden area that a lot of players won't even ever run into, so...

Dark Souls 3

Best: The boss fights are really excellent in this game, just super fun and the high points of the game. The bosses tend to be really well-balanced for the most part, not TOO rough but enough so to make you feel like you really accomplished something. Crystal Sage and Aldrich: Devourer of Gods jump out as fights that I really enjoyed. Overall this game has some of the best boss fights in the entire Soulsborne series, and definitely the most memorable. There's a reason that fights like Nameless King, Slave Knight Gael, Darkeater Midir, and Sister Friede are still talked about regularly today.

Worst: The washed-out artstyle. The contrast is much flatter, and the colors aren't as vibrant, as the other games on this list. Considering this came along later than most of the others, the visuals should be more impactful, not less. This "washed-out" look has become more and more common in games during the last decade and I don't like it. All of that said, I also recognize that there may be an in-universe reason for why this game is washed-out. The fire of the world is dying, the colors are fading, etc. It still makes the game worse.

Bloodborne

Best: This could be any number of things, like the sheer variety of weapons, and the variety of movesets within each weapon. It's legitimately outstanding. However I'm going to go with "the lore" as the best thing about this game. It has the best lore of any Fromsoft game, with a fascinating story to piece together. Like most of the games on here, it takes place after a cataclysm. Though while the other games generally follow a cataclysm that was out of the control of the people, this cataclysm directly resulted from the people of the city and their actions. They dug too deep, and too greedily. The Lovecraftian elements of the world/lore just elevate it even more.

Worst: There isn't really anything bad about this game. Seriously. So it's very difficult to pick a "worst" when there are simply no weaknesses to be found. That said, there are a couple of things I could have done without. The beginning of the game (before it lets you level up) is a bit too hard, and getting lost / dying a lot in that first area can turn off a lot of players before they even get going. Once you reach the first Insight and gain the ability to level up, the game eases up a LOT.

Worst Worst: Alright, fine, the game being stuck in 30 FPS is a real issue, especially coming off of any of the other games on this list.

Sekiro

Best: A lot of people don't even count this as a Soulsborne, since it's more of a Ninja Gaiden than a swords and sorcery RPG. Regardless, it has the same people behind it and the same design philosophy, so I count it. As for the best thing... the agility of your character. Wolf is the quickest of any protagonist from this list, can leap around, jump off walls, grapple onto tree branches... guy is incredibly agile and it's so much fun to play.

Worst: The difficulty curve isn't very good. Much like Bloodborne, it starts out hard, which can chase off a lot of players before they even get going. After the beginning, it gradually levels out (while still being the toughest game on this list) before getting tough again by the end. A smoothed-out difficulty curve that gives players more of a chance to get good at the game would have been perfect. It's still one of, if not THE best swordfighting game of all time.

Demon Souls Remake

Best: How damn amazing it looks. This might be the best-looking game I've ever played, with amazing detail and lighting effects. The sumptous visuals are a masterpiece right down to the game's very pores. Check out the moss on the various rained-on stone walls, and the way swinging lights and torches affect everything around them.

Worst: That the 6th Archstone was never finished or added. Such a huge missed opportunity with this remake. Nothing new added, it just ends when the original ended.

Elden Ring

Best: The numerous accessibility options that let players pretty much tailor the game. Someone like me who just wants to see everything can use summons, spells, leveling, shields, and so forth as needed to make the game easier. Someone else who wants to play in full Unga Bunga challenge mode can go through the game naked with a giant club and no allies at level 1 if they want to.

Worst: The game just kinda throws you out there with little clue of where to go or what to do. That also adds to the magic of it though and could be considered a "best" when looking at the freedom that the game gives you.

Other Best: How much you see your character grow over time.

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Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

Best: The DLC of ER is big enough to basically count as its own game, even though it isn't at all standalone and requires an endgame character. Best thing about it is the massive variety of new weapons it gives you to play around with, and some of them are really interesting/unique (like the Dancing Blades). It even introduces new weapon types entirely, like Greatsword Katanas and Perfume Bottles. This really does feel like "Elden Ring 2" in scope and you get to bring your ER character into it.

Worst: The Abyssal Woods. Probably the worst area Fromsoft has made in a while. It has a great atmosphere, but there's nothing in it. Nothing except roving madness-inflicting mindflayers that can obliterate your character at range with mind spells, with nothing you can do about it besides getting to them first and avoiding their cheap grab attack. Sneaking around the zone edges might work, at least. They're horrible and absolutely ruin the area, making it hands-down the worst area in ER.

Elden Ring: Nightreign

Best: The multiplayer-focused "Elden Ring: The Arcade Game" style gameplay, where you and two other players race through, beating up various random bosses from the original game, while trying to collect as many upgrades as possible. It's really fun at first.

Worst: The way the game rushes you through everything and resets all progress after every run, preventing you from slowly gaining power from the short bursts of time it gives you to explore. You don't have time to really get to know the settings, and the vast majority of the time you'll end an area at too low of a level to beat the boss, due to having to speed through it. If they just gave you ten more minutes in each world it would make such a massive difference in your odds of victory on the boss. It's actually completely antithetical to everything good about Elden Ring. This is the only Fromsoft game I tapped out on without finishing it, and it'll need a LOT of changes before I give it another shot.

Best Soulsborne Game: Elden Ring

Worst Soulsborne Game: Elden Ring: Nightreign